A Byrd Comes Home
by jay-byrd92
Summary: What happens when a spunky and secretive girl comes to live with Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damien?... absolute chaos... No slashes, rated mainly T for language and some other stuff that may come later on Disclaimer: I don't own Batman, or the characters.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

It had been a long night for Batman and his comrades, even though it had started out rather uneventful… Well, uneventful for them anyway…

8:30 p.m. at the Wayne Mansion:

"Alfred, are the boys almost ready?" Bruce asked his ever-reliable butler.

"Doubtful Master Bruce, doubtful" was all Alfred could respond with.

Alfred's comment was confirmed two seconds later when they heard Damien scream, "Give me back my tie, you petulant swine!"

Bruce released an exasperated sigh, and Alfred quickly responded with, "I will take care of it."

It was the night of the Wayne Foundation Charity Ball, and to show a good familial front, and to try to raise more money, Bruce had decided all four of his sons would attend the event. Dick had been excited about the ball, particularly after he found out that Commissioner Gordon and Barbara were going to be there. As soon as Bruce had told him the news, Dick went to get a new suit, and made sure Babs had whatever dress she wanted. Tim had been agreeable, he wasn't overly thrilled about the whole event, but he wasn't going to give Bruce a hard time about it. On the other hand, Jason and Damien vehemently protested, but Bruce was fortunate and had something each of them wanted. Jason had recently lost his apartment after he decided to side with Roy in an argument against Kori. Afterwards, Jason had been forced to take up residency in his old room at the mansion until a new apartment could be found. Bruce had made a deal with Jason; he would find and buy Jason a new apartment if he would go the event. Jason begrudgingly agreed. Damien was a bit easier to convince. Recently, Bruce had taken away some of Damien's weapons for disobeying during a mission. Bruce promised to return them to him provided he attended the ball, and like Jason, Damien agreed.

Bruce finished getting ready after another ten minuets, and headed towards the stairs hoping that Alfred had been able to corral his unruly children. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he was surprised to find all four of his sons looking nothing but presentable. Alfred had once again done the impossible.

Ten minuets earlier…

Jason still wasn't pleased that he had to go to a charity ball; but rather then complain about it, he took his aggravation out on his brothers in other ways. He had personally tailored Tim's pants to be so short you could see all of his ankles, he cut a bat signal into the butt of Dick's new pants, and hid every single one of Damien's ties. So when Alfred came down the stairs to make sure the boys were almost ready, he found the boys in their usual disarray. Damien was chasing Jason with a kitchen knife still screaming about his tie. Tim was trying to figure out how his pants got so short. While, Dick was standing in front of the mirror staring at his butt, he looked like he was about to cry over his new suit.

After Alfred took in the situation, he handled it as he always had, with an eerily monotone (yet threatening voice) and a raised eyebrow that would make anybody's blood run cold.

"Master Damien, stop chasing Master Jason immediately, and Master Jason kindly return the tie to your brother." Damien and Jason stopped dead in their tracks, and quickly did as Alfred commanded. "Master Dick, while I know you are fond of your new suit, I do believe you should go change into your black Armani instead. Less you are trying to start a new clothing line of bat suits," at that Jason let out a laugh that he quickly stifled into a cough after Alfred looked at him. "Master Tim, your pants are not ruined, just hemmed too high. I'd be happy to fix it for you if you'd hold still for a couple moments."

"Thank you Alfred," he responded graciously.

After five minuets, Alfred had fixed Tim's pants and had just finish helping Damien with his tie when Dick came down he stairs ready and changed.

Bruce joined them soon after, and the look on his face as he descended the stairs made all of his sons laugh, and put a satisfied smile on the butler's face.

"I don't know how you did it Alfred, but thank you."

"Years of training Master Wayne, and you are welcome," Alfred replied, and then left the room to pull the limo around.

Bruce then looked to his boys, "I would like to thank all of you for coming to the charity ball, even if two of you were coerced into it. Just please do one favor, please behave this evening, remember who we are trying to raise money for." At that the boys all gave some sort of gesture of understanding. They all knew the foundation was created to help raise money for orphans, and none of them wanted to take away from that. Bruce then continued, "So that means, only Jason and Dick may drink. Jason you are only allowed two drinks per hour, also no smoking tonight, please. Damien our deal is null and void if I hear you threaten any of your brothers. Dick, don't be too much of a womanizer, and Tim, socialize a little. You'll have to know most of these people soon enough," once again all of the boys acknowledge what he had said, and agreed.

After Bruce's speech was over they all headed out of the front doors to Alfred and the limo, already waiting.

The Wayne Foundation Charity Ball was held at the Gotham City Plaza, only the wealthiest of Gotham were in attendance, and the event was slated to raise millions of dollars. Bruce had promised for every dollar raised, Wayne Enterprises would match it dollar for dollar. Needless to say, the ball was going to be an extravagant event…

Upon arriving at the Plaza, Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, and Dick all exited the limo. They were quickly bombarded with the paparazzi's camera flashes as they walked the red carpet to the front doors. Inside everything was beautiful and decedent, even the people. Tim started to calculate the net worth of the individuals in attendance, and the numbers were staggering.

Bruce turned to his sons one last time before he went off to talk to Lucius Fox, "Remember what I said earlier, and behave," then he left.

Jason glanced around nervously, "Dickie, why don't we go get a drink to take the edge off, if I'm sober much longer I'm going to break out into hives." Dick was distractedly looking for Barbara, but agreed and went along with him.

Damien assessed his surroundings and then looked to Tim, "Well I'm not just going to stand next to you looking like an idiot," and with that Damien stormed off to who knows where.

Tim just shrugged and went after Dick and Jason.

Two hours later.

The night was going relatively well, people were drinking and donating left and right. Bruce was pleased because the event had already raised almost three million since it had started, and he hadn't seen or heard any commotion from his sons.

Dick had finally found Babs. They were quietly sitting in a corner people watching, drinking, and occasionally kissing, nothing out of the ordinary for them. Jason had kept his promise about the smoking, but he had needed a few more drinks than two per hour to keep the edge off. He wasn't drunk per say, just a little tipsy. He had found an older woman that thought he was "absolutely charming," and had spent a fair amount of the evening dancing with her. Tim had done what he was told; he had gotten into a conversation with some of Wayne's partners on politics. He found it to be a boring topic, but was pleased that they seemed to be impressed with his insights and knowledge. Damian was the only one not enjoying himself in the slightest. He had no one to talk to, not that solitude ever bothered him too much, and his suit was uncomfortable. He had wanted tot take if off as soon as he had put it on, but he didn't want to disappoint his father so he didn't say anything.

Damien was trying to find something to entertain himself, but was failing miserably. So he decided to look around the plaza's second floor…

Fortunately for Bruce and everyone else at the ball, Damien's bored saved a lot of money that evening. He had just put his foot on the top of the stair when he heard a soft thump; the noise was so quiet he had almost missed it.

 _Probably just some old people getting some_ , was his original thought, but then he decided he better make sure.

He crept slowly around the corner to check. What he saw surprised him, rather than seeing two people in a compromising position, he found Chancer.

 _He must be here because of the money being raised; I have to tell Bruce._

Damien quickly and quietly moved back toward the stairs, he knew he needed to find Bruce. He didn't want any of the foundations money to end up with Chancer.

Three minuets later, Damien found Bruce talking to Commissioner Gordon, "Father, I need to speak with you urgently." At first Bruce was a little upset that Damien has so rudely interrupted Gordon, but the look on Damien's face told him that whatever it was, it was important. Bruce quickly excused himself, and then turned to follow Damien.

"What is going on?" Bruce asked, as lowered his head so no one could over hear them.

"Chaser is here. I think he is after the foundation's money, and seeing as he has a nasty habit of getting away with the money I figured somebody might need to intervene."

"Thank you for getting me rather than taking care of this yourself, we need to take care of this quickly and silently. Go get Dick, Tim, and Jason if he isn't loaded. I'll get Lucius so make a speech or something to distract everybody and then I'll meet you up there," Bruce replied, and then turned and moved to find Lucius.

Damien snaked his way through the crowd as carefully as possible so as not to cause a scene. He found Tim first as he was coming out of the bathroom. Damien grabbed his arm, and as Tim was about to protest he turned and said, "Not a word Drake, Chancer is here and we need to take care of it." Tim gave Damien a curt nod and followed him without another word.

Next they found Jason at the bar. "Well if it isn't Demon and Replacement, what can I help you fine children with?"

Tim could smell the alcohol on Jason's breath as he spoke, and asked, "How much have you had to drink?"

"Not enough to tolerate this ball much longer, but enough that'll tolerate your company at the moment," he replied with a lazy grin,

"Drake, he is worthless right now, let's just find Dick and take care of it."

Tim nodded his agreement, but as they went to walk away, Jason grabbed Tim's arm.

"What is going on," Jason demanded.

"Chancer is here and we need to take care of it, but you barely seem capable of walking let alone helping," Tim answered. Jason rolled his eyes, stood up, and followed them.

"Just don't cause a problem Todd," Damien warned. This was met with another eye roll from Jason, but he continued to follow them.

They found Dick in the next room still talking to Babs, they explained the situation and then all headed for the stairs.

By the time they go to the top, it had only been five minutes since Damien had initially seen Chancer. Bruce was only a few second behind the boys.

"Alright Dami, where did you see him?" Dick asked in a hushed voice.

Damien made a shushing noise to get them to shut up, and then used hand signals to show them where to go. Bruce organized them into three teams, to try to be as efficient as possible. Then on Bruce's go they all jumped into action, only to be stunned at what they saw… They were expecting to see Chancer ready to fight, but they found him in a very different state. He was lying unconscious on the ground, Chancer's arms and legs had been hogtied, and a napkin was shoved in his mouth to keep him quiet should he wake up.

"Who the hell did this?" Jason asked.

Bruce rapidly looked to Damien, but he held up his hands and shrugged.

Tim and Dick both said they didn't do it, and then Tim went to look at the body. "Hey Bruce, come take a look at this," Tim said.

Tim handed him the note he had found pinned the body, and Bruce read it out loud,t he note said:

Hello Batsy and Boys,

I decided to handle this one for you. Ya'll seemed to be rather busy downstairs and I didn't want the evening to end poorly.

Save the kids for me,

XOXO BB

When he was done reading, Bruce handed the note to dick for him to look at.

"Well, we cant just leave him up here. Dick, call Alfred and have him meet you and Jason in the back. Tell him to take Chancer to the police and come back here, and then to come back to pick us up. The event is almost over and we need to figure out who BB is," Bruce ordered.

Damien and Time followed Bruce, they heard clapping as they descended the stairs, signifying the end of Lucius's speech. Bruce walked towards the front of the crowd, he had to say a few words, tell everyone the total amount donated, and then end the event.

Thirty minuets later, the plaza was empty. The only people that remained were Bruce, the boys, and a few people that worked for the Wayne Enterprises. Alfred pulled up a few minuets later. On the way home, Bruce and the boys explained what had happened to Alfred. They started to brainstorm and research into who "BB" might be long before they got the mansion.

Upon arrival, Alfred insisted that everyone go upstairs and eat before getting started on research, it was already one in the morning and Alfred knew that if he didn't get them to eat now, they weren't going to eat until at least noon. There where a few, complaints about needing to get to work as soon as possible, but when Alfred made a suggestion, it was more of a law and everyone knew there was no point in arguing.

As they headed up the stairs and into the kitchen, none of them seemed to notice anything was amiss. It wasn't until they got right next to the kitchen door that Jason noticed something was off. "Why do I smell grilled cheese? Alfred hasn't cooked since breakfast this morning."

Suddenly everyone looked to Jason, and sniffed the air. He was right someone had cooked in their kitchen very recently.

Bruce went to stand in front of everyone as they approached the door, he pressed his ear to it but didn't hear anything. Rather than pushing the door open slowly, Bruce blasted through the door flowed by Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damien. And to all of their surprise there was a girl sitting on the kitchen table. Staring at them as if she expected them, she had a big smile one her face as she happily munched on a grilled cheese sandwich.

Everyone was still too shocked to move, and that was saying something. None of them could process how she had made it through all of the security systems and get past all of the animals without anything being out of place.

After the girl finished her bite, she took a sip of her milk, and then said, "Sorry I helped myself, but I was starving, and I made all of you some so I hope it's okay." She smiled as she pointed to a huge stack of grilled cheese sandwiches next to the stovetop.

Everyone was still just staring at her until Jason yelled, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

Despite his outburst, the girl's smile didn't waver an inch. "You can call me Mason, It's to finally meet the infamous Bat and his troop of birds. Oh, and let's not forget dear Alfred, he keeps this place immaculate by the way," she replied as she glanced around the kitchen….


	2. Chapter 2: Questions

**Hi again! Thank you for reading the first chapter, I hope you liked it.**

 **I'm going to update at least once a week, but IF I can do more, I will! Enjoy**

* * *

Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, and Robin, gaped at the girl, they couldn't believe a young girl had somehow managed to break into the mansion without leaving any evidence whatsoever.

Mason's smile was still plastered to her face, but as the silence continued on her smile began to falter.

Eventually it became too uncomfortable for her, "Look, I'm really sorry for surprising ya'll like this." After a moment more of complete silence from Bruce and the boys, she continued, "How about in exchange for you letting this go, I tell you how I got in here past your security systems?"

"I don't think that will quite cover it," Bruce finally replied.

"Yeah, I had the feeling it wouldn't," Mason replied with an uneasy chuckle. No one looked amused with her attempt to lighten the mood. She continued, "I understand you probably have a few more questions for me, and I will happily answer most of them, but if you could do me one favor I'd appreciate it."

"You break in our house and expect us to gi-" Damien began yelling, but Bruce quickly cut him off.

"What is your request?" he asked.

Mason looked at all of them hesitantly, all humor gone now, "I'll go where you want and answer your questions, just please do not touch me, or try to restrain me. I'm not going to run away, I promise. I just don't like feeling caged."

It looked like Jason and Damien were about to protest, but Bruce and Dick gave each of them a stern look and prevented further argument.

"We can agree to that," Bruce replied.

"Thank you so much," Mason sighed in relief.

* * *

Ten minuets later everyone was in the living room; on the off chance Mason hadn't been able to get into the batcave, Bruce didn't want to show her how.

The furniture had been rearranged, both couches were lined up next to each other, Bruce sat in between Damien and Jason on one (he figured he need to sit next to them incase they became unruly) and Tim and Dick sat on the other. Alfred stood next to the kitchen door; he was interested in hearing her story as well. Mason sat in front of them in a large armchair.

The boys were studying her while Bruce was trying to figure out were he wanted to start his questioning. Mason looked to be in her late teens, maybe early twenties, and was about 5'8" maybe a smidge taller. She had long golden blonde hair with dark green eyes. She held herself well, and although she was wearing oversized clothing, it was obvious the she well toned body. Mason was undeniably beautiful, no one would contest that, but the boys noticed that she looked unkempt. Her baggie clothes did her no favors, her hair was untidy, and she just looked a little dirty.

"Alright, first off I would like to know who you are," Bruce began.

"I told you, call me Mason."

"We already know what we are suppose to call you, but that doesn't tell us who you are," Dick said kindly. "We need to know something more than a name."

Mason didn't answer; she just stared at them uneasy, unsure of what to say.

After a prolonged moment of silence, Jason asked, "Well if you won't tell us who the fuck you are, then tell us why you are here."

Jason's brashness didn't bother Mason at all, she actually gave a slight smile before answering, "I'm here to help you."

No one said anything for a second, then everyone started laughing loudly, even Alfred had a hard time not smiling at the statement.

Damien was the first one to regain some sort of composure, "You, help us? Ha! What do we need your help with?"

Mason was clearly unaffected by their laughter, she had maintained her smile, "I assure you… I'm far more useful than your initial analysis indicates. Recall I got into here didn't I?" That shut everyone up rather quickly, and Damien started glaring at her again.

"Please stop beating around the bush, we will be here all night if this continues," Tim pleaded.

"Fine…" Mason then began her story, "When I was 14, I was living on the streets. One night, I picked the wrong fight with the wrong people, but they had been about to attack a friend of mine and I wasn't going to let that happen." She paused for a second before continuing, "They beat me within an inch of my life, and left me for dead. Lucky for me a man happened to be walking by. He picked me up off the street, took me back to his place, and took care of me. After I recovered, he taught me how to defend myself, and how to defend others. I learned a lot during my time with him…"

"What does that have to do with us?" Bruce asked.

"Sorry, I was just about to get to that," Mason said with a laugh. "Well, I stayed with him for six years. Wile I was there, I didn't just learn how to fight, but he also taught me his philosophy on life and such. Unfortunately… he died before he was finished teaching me…" Mason paused again; she didn't like talking about the old man, the memories made her sad. "But before his death, he told me that should anything happen to him, that I should seek out Batman. He said Batman was the only one that could finish training me."

Bruce absorbed the information before asking another question, "What was your teacher's name?"

This question made Madison look uncomfortable, "I honestly don't know… He wouldn't tell me, I asked every day for the first three months. Eventually I just assumed he would never answer so I either called him 'Old Man' or 'Joe.'"

"You seriously expect us to believe that you had a master for six years and you never learned his name?" Jason asked incredulously. Mason stiffened at his question. At first Jason thought she didn't like the tone he had used, but quickly realized that that wasn't the case.

She gave him a seething glare, and then said, "I have no master. I am free to do what I want when I want, and that will never change." Cleary he had touched a nerve… However, as soon as she had finished speaking, her timid smile returned. Her rapid personality change had thrown everyone off guard.

A moment more passed before Bruce spoke again, "So you're here for me to finish training you, but what do you want me to train you to do exactly? What are you hoping to accomplish?"

"I want to be able to defend those that cannot defend themselves…"

Bruce gave her another long look… _Well, I can't exactly say no, she knows who we are. Dick and I should be able to teach her, she doesn't look like she can cause too much damage and she's right we could use the help during patrols…_

"Before I give you an answer, I need to think about it some more, and I need to make sure my family is okay with it. But before anything else, I need to you to tell me how you got into here, and how you found us."

Mason perked up, to be honest she was expecting an immediate no, "Well no offence, but none of your secret identities are very hard to figure out. The technology and gadgetry ya'll use doesn't come cheap, so you have to be supported by a large amount of money. Additionally, you would need ample space in a secluded area to keep everything hidden. So I looked into wealthy people with large properties in the surrounding area, but there are so many of you in Gotham that that didn't narrow it down as much as I would've hoped. So then I started looking into your identities individually. I poured through old newspaper articles and police archives, and was able to deduce that there were four different Robins. Adding in that Bruce Wayne had adopted three sons, and had one biological son, it wasn't very hard. I correlated your adoptions with each new Robin appearance. Then three nights ago I followed you back here, and my theory was confirmed," Mason finished with a proud look.

"You followed me?" Bruce questioned.

"Yup!"

"How? And you still haven't explained how you go into here either."

"Oh yeah! I was getting to this part, after I followed you back, I sat in a tree and watched the house for a bit… After a couple hours, I heard shouting and something breaking. Then a few moments later, Jason jumped out of his window. It was left open, so I snuck in that way. I found his keys and took them, and tonight I was going to come and return them, but ya'll weren't home so I let myself in," Mason mumbled that last bit like she was a little embarrassed.

"I fucking told you someone took them from my room," Jason fumed and glared at Bruce.

"You have no right to be upset, a person broke into the house because you're a damn fool and left the window open," Tim snapped.

Jason quickly jumped up, and was about to launch himself at Tim, but Bruce grabbed his arm and forced him back down on the couch. "Both of you be quiet, now," Bruce said sternly. Tim calmed down, but Jason was still muttering insults under his breath. Bruce ignored Jason, and returned his attention to mason. "Well while I make up my mind about you, do you need a place to stay?"

"If it wouldn't be to much of an imposition, I used up the last of my money a few nights ago, and I've stayed at a shelter the last couple nights."

Everyone's expression softened after she said that, especially Jason. She was homeless.

"Alfred, would you please make up one of the spare rooms for Mason," Bruce asked.

"Certainly Master Bruce," and then Alfred let the room.

"Well, Mason while you are here, feel free to make yourself comfortable. Dick will get you some toiletries, and I'll try to find you some clothes you can wear tonight. In the morning one of us will take you to get whatever else you may need."

"Thank you Mr. Wayne," Mason said with an elated smile.

"Just call me Bruce."

"Alight thank you, Bruce."

"Alfred will come back down in a moment and show you to your room," Bruce said with a faint smile, but then his face turned serious. "One last thing Mason." She looked a little startled with his sudden mood change. "I care very deeply for my family and their safety… And their safety is dependant on anonymity… Should any one of their identities become public knowledge because of something you do or say, assume I will not be understanding nor forgiving." He held her gaze for a moment longer before saying, "You have been warned…" and with that Bruce left the room.

After the door shut, Mason relaxed and turned to the boys quietly laughing, "Is he always so up tight?"

"You'll get used to it," they collectively answered.

* * *

Five minutes after Bruce had left, Alfred returned to the living room.

"Miss Mason, if you would follow me your room is now ready,"

"Thank you Alfred, " She said with a smile, "But please don't call me Miss Mason, it makes me uncomfortable, just Mason is fine."

"As you wish," and then Mason followed him out of the room. He led her up two flights of stairs, to a room at the end of a long hall. He opened the door for her to enter and then said, "If you can of think of anything you might need, just buzz the intercom. I'm number two, and Master Bruce is number one. Master Dick has already placed a few things in the bathroom for you, and the dresser is full of clothes that I hope will fit."

"Thank you Alfred, I think I'll be alright for the evening."

"Very well, goodnight Mi-," he caught himself, "goodnight Mason."

"Goodnight Alfred and thanks again," Mason said as she quietly closed the door. She then locked it, and slowly walked over to her bed as examined the room. It was beautiful and spacious, much more so than anything she had ever stayed in. Her bed was king sized, and the room still had enough room for a large dresser, two nightstands, an oversized armoire, and a desk complete desk. She lied down on the bed and looked at ceiling. Even the ceiling was ornate; it was covered in beautiful intricate patterns and at the center a massive crystal glass chandelier. After studying the patterns she got up and continued to look at the rest of the room, the bathroom was larger, as was the closet.

 _I wonder if all the rooms are this nice… I could certainly get used to it anyway…_

On her way out of the bathroom, she caught her appearance in the mirror and smirked.

 _God, I really do look homeless, well at least it worked, I got in. Ha. Now time to get down to business._

Mason quietly went to the window and opened it. She looked down; the drop was around thirty feet. "This is going to be fun," she told herself with a grin and then she leapt from the windowsill. Her landing was silent, and within seconds she was running towards the edge of the property where her bike was waiting.

 _Time for the fun to begin…_


	3. Chapter 3: Tours

**Hello again everyone! Id like to tahnk you for your continued reading of my first publication and more importantly, wish you all a very happy turkey day!**

 **Just for clarification purposesthese are the ages I use for everybody:**

 **Bruce- 43**

 **Dick- 27**

 **Jason-25**

 **Tim-19**

 **Damien-15**

 **Thanks again and hope you enjoy!**

* * *

After Alfred escorted Mason from the room, Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damien were all still a little shocked over what had just transpired.

Damien was the first to break the silence, "Well I guess one more peasant in this house won't kill me, but this is the last one… I'm sick of Father bringing strays home."

"Awe come on Dami, she doesn't seem that bad," Dick said with a slight smile, still looking at the door Mason had left through.

"And I wonder I why you think that Dick," Tim said with an eye roll, "It wouldn't have anything to do with her how she looks now would it?"

Dick chuckled and blushed, but Jason came to his defense, "Hey I can't blame him, I wouldn't be upset if she stuck around either. I might even have to come around here more often, just to watch her walk away…"

"Both of you are repulsive," Damien scoffed. "I'm done listening to this, goodnight heathens." Damien nodded to each in turn and then headed towards his bedroom.

After the door shut Dick started laughing, "Damn, I cannot wait for him to like a girl, I'll never let him live it down." At that Tim and Jason started laughing as they nodded in agreement.

"God help the girl he falls for, can you imagine him trying to talk to her, let alone trying to be nice to her," Tim chuckled.

"Let's be honest, the little demon is never going to find a girl willing to put up with his shit," Jason added.

"You're one to talk!" Dick laughed. Jason stopped laughing immediately and started to glare at his older brother. Tim just laughed even harder, but one look from Jason had him trying to stifle it. Jason wasn't one to take jokes at his own expense well; punch-lines about him were usually followed by punches from him. Dick continued to giggle as he patted Jason on the back, and told him to calm down.

The boys continued talking for a few more minutes before returning to their respective bedrooms on the second floor.

When Jason got into his room he could faintly hear Mason walking around above him.

 _She is light on her feet…_ Jason thought as he was getting ready for bed. He was finally able to get out of the suit he hated so much, it was quickly discarded into a small pile by the door. He was too tired to bother showering before going to bed, so he just threw on some old sweatpants and crawled onto the bed.

His thoughts then returned to the girl upstairs… _having a girl around again will be weird… At least she is nice to look at… still think something is a little off though…_ and he dozed off without letting his suspicions bother him too much.

* * *

Instead of going to his own room after watching Tim and Jason enter theirs, Dick went to Bruce's. When he got to the room, he knocked softly, mainly out of respect for the older man. He knew Bruce would still be awake.

Dick heard a muffled "come in" through the door. When he entered, it was just about what he had expected. Bruce was still in his tux, and was sitting at his desk staring at a duel-screened computer.

"Find anything on her yet?"

"Nothing. Although I don't have much to go on, I'm reasonably sure her real name isn't even Mason," Bruce replied.

"I think everyone picked up on that. She said to call her 'Mason,' not that her name is 'Mason.'" Bruce nodded in agreement, but when he didn't add anything, Dick continued, "That being said I don't know if she is lying about everything else…"

Bruce turned in his chair and fixed dick with a curious look, "Explain your rationale."

"I just mean… She picked a precise way to phase the name question so that she wasn't lying… I just don't see why she would go through the effort of leaving out pertinent information and then lying about what ever she was actually willing to tell us." Bruce looked skeptical. "I'm not explaining myself very well right now… I just don't think she is lying, but I don't think she told us everything either, not by a long shot."

Bruce still didn't look convinced, but then he said, "Well if nothing else, we do know she was well trained." Dick nodded his head in agreement. "She can wear baggie clothing all she wants to cover up her physique, but she moves to gracefully and quietly to not have received an extraordinary amount of training. Not to mention how she got in here, that might have been the most obvious lie she told us tonight."

Again Dick nodded his head in agreement, "Do you know how she did it?"

"No, that was the first thing I looked into. I ran a diagnostics on the entire security system and absolutely nothing came up. She doesn't even appear on the outside surveillance cameras, but those aren't too hard to avoid if you know where they are…" Bruce tailed off.

"Ha! Yeah, no kidding. Jason proved that many times over when he still lived here," Dick agreed.

Bruce and Dick continued to try to dig up anything else they could find on Mason, but their limited information was insufficient to turn up so much as a birth certificate. They also looked into the note they got from 'BB,' the one they had found on Chancer, but that search didn't turn up anything either. After an hour, they both decided the search could continue in the morning.

Dick retreated to his room exhausted, and thoroughly annoyed that they hadn't found anything on the mysterious girl. He collapsed on his bed, and his last conscious thoughts, before drifting of to sleep, were of Mason…

* * *

After Mason left the mansion, she immediately headed back into the center of Gotham to her dingy motel room. She knew leaving the bat nest her first night there was risky, but she had business to take care of.

She quickly got into her room, and relaxed… "This timid, cookie-cutter act is going to kill me," she said aloud to herself. _At least it seemed like they bought most of it, but then again… I didn't lie as much as I thought I was going to have to… fuck, I hate lying…_ And that was the truth, Mason didn't like lying, but it was necessary from time to time. She also didn't like pretending to be weak, but that was a necessary part for her plan as well… Unfortunately…

Mason got over her quick moment of self-loathing, and proceeded to finish getting dressed… _I need as much time as possible tonight… gotta start making connections…_ She grabbed what she needed and then headed out onto the streets.

* * *

Mason didn't get back to the mansion until right before the sun came up that morning. She had spent more time out than she had originally intended to, but she told herself it was necessary.

As Mason was shedding off her dirty clothes in the bathroom, she noticed a large bruise developing on the left side of her ribcage… _Owwww…_ She thought as she softly poked it… _at least nothing feels broken… didn't think the hit was that hard…_ She winced a few more times as she finished getting dressed. When Mason was done, she silently padded over to the massive bed, and quickly fell asleep…

* * *

Two hours later, Mason was woken up with a quiet knocking at her door, and someone trying to twist the doorknob to enter, and then a few louder knocks when it didn't open.

"Hey Mason?" Someone called. It sounded like Dick, but it could be Tim. Mason couldn't really tell through the door.

"One second! I'm getting up!" Mason called back.

A moment later, she opened the door and poked her head through. Her initial suspicions had been correct… it was Dick.

"Good morning," he greeted her cheerfully.

"'M'ornin," Mason mumbled and then yawned.

Dick's smile faltered slightly, "Wow you still look exhausted, are you okay?"

"Yeah I just didn't sleepy very well at the shelter," Mason answered with an embarrassed look, "this is the first time I've felt safe enough to sleep for more than a couple hours in a while… I guess I was just trying to catch up on sleep."

Dick gave her a look that resembled pity, "I understand, we can let you sleep for a couple more hours if you want, but we will need you downstairs by 10:30a.m."

She gave him an appreciative smile, and thanked him. She was just about to close the door when Dick stopped it. Mason gave him a startled look.

"I'm sorry about that," he apologized. "But you can't lock the bedroom doors, it's a house policy."

"Why not?"

"Bruce doesn't want us breaking down doors if something happens. We've had a few late night visitors that have come through the window, and if the door had been locked we would've had a hard time helping each other. I swear it saved Tim one night."

After some hesitation, Mason agreed, "Well I guess, if I have too…" and then she closed the door without locking it.

 _I'm not sleeping in this house if I can't lock the fucking door…_ and she didn't, instead she started stretching her sore muscles and getting ready for the day. Mason knew all too well, no amount of training could protect her while she slept, and sleeping in a room she couldn't lock wasn't going to happen… even if it was under Batman's roof…

* * *

An hour later, Mason decided it was time to make an appearance. She felt a little better, not as stiff anyway, but the bruise on her ribs had started to set in and had become more noticeable. She put on a tight black tank to help compress the injury, and then threw a loose white shirt on over it. She then pulled on a pair of sweats that were a little too long, but they would do.

Mason still felt exhausted as she walked down the stairs, but the smell of coffee and food coming from downstairs made her excited.

When she got in the kitchen, most of the bat clan was already there. Alfred was at the stove making pancakes, Bruce was reading the newspaper, Damien was cleaning a set of knives, Tim had his laptop out and was looking at something on it, and Dick was stirring sugar into his coffee as he watched the news on the kitchen TV. Jason was the only one missing.

Dick was the first to greet Mason, "Good morning again, do you feel better?" he asked with a genuine smile.

"Haha, I will after a some caffeine," Mason answered and headed towards the coffee pot. "Where is Jason?"

"He usually doesn't like to get up before noon, but he'll be down here as soon as Alfred puts breakfast on the table. He can be quite irritable in the morning," Tim answered. "Then again, when is he not irritable…"

"Be nice," Dick scolded him, but then went back to watching the news.

After five more minutes, Alfred had finished cooking breakfast and was setting it on the table. Within seconds, Jason walked through the kitchen door and plopped down into a chair.

"Ha! I win today Dick, you owe me $10," Tim said with a triumphant smile. Dick, clearly annoyed, reached into his pocket for his wallet and handed Tim a crisp ten.

The exchange didn't faze anybody, but Mason looked completely confused.

"Uuuuh, did I miss something?" she asked.

"Nothing important, just and infantile game between morons," Damien answered without looking up from his food.

"They think it is hysterical to bet on how long it takes me to walk through the door after Alfred puts food on the table," Jason offered her a clearer explanation.

"Oh," she said smiling, "What were the bets?"

"Well it usually takes him about twenty seconds, so that's what I bet, but clearly he was extra motivated to get down here today," Dick answered and then smirked suggestively at Jason.

Jason glanced at Dick, grabbed one of Damien's knives, and threw it at his head. Dick quickly leaned to the side as the blade flew past and imbedded in the wall behind him.

"Boys enough," Bruce warned.

"You better not have damaged that blade, I just finished sharpening it," Damien threatened at the same time.

Mason was having a hard time not laughing. She started to wonder if all meals were this entertaining.

After Bruce's warning, the rest of breakfast was uneventful. They enjoyed Alfred's delicious food quietly, everyone still seemed a little tired from he night before.

* * *

Following breakfast, Bruce told everybody he had to go into work for a couple hours, but he would be back around one. He told Mason and the boys that at 1:30pm he expected everyone in the cave. He wanted to see how proficient Mason was with different weapons, and wanted to see how she did against the boys in hand to hand combat. Everyone agreed to meet downstairs at the designated time, and then Bruce left.

Once the table was cleared, Dick asked Mason if she wanted a tour of the house. She accepted the invitation, and left with him. Tim decided to tag along, but both Damien and Jason didn't want to… Well Jason wanted too, but he decided not to go anyways…

Dick, Tim, and Mason started on the first floor. The dining room was first, followed by the living room. In the living room, they showed her where all the game systems were, and the extensive movie collection. Tim warned her not to sit in Damien's spot while they were watching TV, he didn't like sharing and he usually had an unpleasant surprise for anyone that sat there. After the living room, they showed her to the library. Mason liked to read when she had the opportunity, and was very pleased with the broad collection. From there they went to the music room, it wasn't really a music room; it was only called that because it had a massive grand piano in it.

"Does anyone ever play?" Mason asked as she went to press a few keys.

"No… It was Bruce's mothers. Apparently she was very good and the piano holds some fond memories for him," Dick answered.

"But it's tuned."

"Alfred keeps it in perfect condition, no one has played on it in decades, but if anyone decided to, I'm sure it would sound fine," Tim explained.

During Tim's explanation, Mason had sat down and started playing very softly.

 _You're just like me… You haven't been able to play in years either…_ Mason thought as she continued to play. The song was a short one, but she enjoyed herself.

After she finished and stood up, she noticed Dick and Tim staring at her. Even Jason and Damien had stopped what they were doing upstairs to listen to the music.

"You play beautifully," Dick complimented her.

Mason shrugged, "I just had a good teacher… So where are we going next?"

The tour of the house continued on upstairs. Tim and Dick showed Mason where everyone's rooms were on the second floor. When they took her to the second floor balcony, they found Jason smoking. After Dick chewed Jason out for his nasty habit, they went back inside to finish the tour. The third story didn't take them very long because there only rooms up there were Mason's, Alfred's, and three more guest rooms.

Tim and Dick didn't bother showing her the attic; they told her the only things up there were seasonal decorations and evidence of Jason's smoking addicition.

After they finished in the house, the boys took Mason outside to show her the garden, and some of the grounds.

The tour took two hours in total, and by the time they finished it was almost one.

"Master Bruce will be back soon, you should grab a snack, and then head down to the training room," Alfred instructed them as they came in through one of the terrace doors.

"Thanks Alfred," Dick called as they walked into the kitchen.

Damien and Jason were already in there eating. Dick and Tim sat down and each grabbed a sandwich from the platter on the table. Mason wasn't all that hungry, so she just grabbed an apple, and then excused herself.

Mason needed a few minuets alone, she wasn't used to staying in character for so long. She took the stairs two at a time without making any noise. Once she got to her room she shut the door and went the bathroom to inspect her bruise.

 _If I get hit here, its not going to be pretty…_ the bruise had taken on a deep purple color and it hurt when she lightly poked it. After he pulled her shirt back down, she went into her bedroom and flopped down on the bed. She had enjoyed the tour with Tim and Dick, but she was sick of acting like a girl, and pretending to be fascinated by everything they showed her. She relaxed on the bed for the next fifteen minuets before a hard knock at the door refocused her thoughts.

"Come" Mason had started to say, but Jason was already through the door, "in…" she finished quietly.

Jason smirked at her lying on the bed, "Ready to have your ass handed to you?" Jason asked.

"You wish you could handle my ass," Mason replied as she narrowed her eyes at him and got off the bed.

"Well you aren't wrong there," his said as his smirk turned into a mischievous smile.

Mason just rolled her eyes, and followed him out the door. Despite seeming to be annoyed by Jason, Mason actually enjoyed the banter.

When they got downstairs, they met up with everybody else already waiting in the living room. Bruce was there as well. He greeted them both, and then turned to face just Mason.

"I've decided that you may stay, and I will finish training you, but there are some conditions." Bruce waited for Mason to nod in agreement before continuing, "First, I'll need your fingerprints and a sample of your blood. I would also like to know a few other things about you, including your age and birthday. Second, I have a doctor that I want you to see tomorrow. She will give you a physical to ensure you're healthy, and to get a medical history from you in case anything happens. And lastly, I understand you have training, but until I clear you, you will not be allowed to patrol, I need to make sure you can be a team player and follow instructions… Understood?" he sternly finished.

"Understood," Mason answered, "and thank you…" she added with a small smile.

Bruce wasn't expecting the thanks. He awkwardly nodded his head and had everyone follow him down to the bat cave.


	4. Chapter 4: Training

As they headed down into the cave, Mason started to feel a little apprehensive. She had willingly agreed to his conditions, but she was starting to get worried what he would uncover with the information.

 _My fingerprints wont give him anything. Neither will the blood… He doesn't have my real name, but if he has my birthday he might be able to get it… but I cant lie again… I guess ill have to tell him… I don't think he will be able to uncover much… and if he trusts me a little more after it'll be worth it… alrighty, truth it is…_

When they entered the cave, Mason was shocked with how big it was. She knew it was going to be big, but her imagination didn't really compare.

Bruce sent Dick, Jason, and Damien to change into training gear and set up the room for Mason. Bruce had Tim stay behind to help enter Mason's information into the computer. He was creating a new file named "Mason" when Bruce turned to her to begin his questions.

"When is your birthday?" he asked.

"November 5th, I'm 22."

"Where did you live before coming to Gotham?'

"I lived in New York."

"Weapon of choice?" he continued.

"I don't really have one, but if I had to pick, probably knives," Mason answered.

"Highest level of education?"

"I have a B.S. in biochemistry, and B.A. in computer science."

Bruce gave her an impressed look, "What do you intend to do with those degrees?"

"Med school. Before Joe died, that was what I was going to do. Even after he died, I went ahead and applied. I got into a school in New York, and at the med school in Gotham."

Bruce nodded and went back to his questions, "How many what languages do you know, and what are they?"

"Including English?" she asked. Bruce nodded. This question made her uncomfortable, she didn't want him to know how many languages she knew. Didn't want him knowing how smart she was, she settled for telling him at least some of them. "I'm proficient in four languages. English. Russian. French. And Spanish." She also knew how to speak Italian, Mandarin, German, Arabic, Greek, and Latin (for however worthless it was.) "Oh I also know American sing language," she added as afterthought.

"Alright, now I'm going to need you to press both hands to this as it scans your prints," Bruce said as a held out a tablet.

"Uh okay, but there is going to be one problem," Mason mumbled.

"And what is that," he asked.

Mason held up her hands to show Bruce her fingers. It was the first time he had taken a good look at them. They were all burned off… She had no fingerprints.

"Joe burned them off when he started training me… he said no fingerprints meant no past. As weird as this sounds, I think he did it to help me. When he pulled me off the streets, I was angry and scared. He told me that by erasing my fingerprints, I was also erasing past injustices done to me… It helped me to forgive." She shared more than she intended, but it had done the trick, Bruce's face softened during her explanation, and he didn't ask her about it again.

Bruce put the tablet back down, and instead picked up a syringe. "In that case, all I need now is a sample of your blood." He looked at Mason and waited for her to put her arm out.

"Do you mind if I do it myself?" she asked hesitantly.

"I promise I won't hurt you, I've become pretty adept with medical equipment over the years," he said trying to make Mason feel more comfortable.

"Needles, don't bother me at all, but I don't like being touched… I'd just feel better if I did it myself."

This surprised Bruce, he wasn't expecting that answer, but he handed her the needle and a tourniquet. Mason quickly slipped the tourniquet over her arm, found a good vein, and pushed the needle in. Once the vile was full, she handed it to Bruce. Bruce handed the blood over to Tim to add a sample to her file. After Bruce got all the information he wanted from Mason, he sent her to the gear room, to change and get ready.

"Tim, add chiraptophobia to her file."

"Alright, what exactly is that?" Tim asked as he added the note to a document.

"She is scared to be touched, it usually arises after prolonged physical abuse… And from what I can tell, she has it bad," Bruce replied. "This may be a problem."

"How so?"

"Two reasons. First, if she was ever in a fight, and someone physically grabbed and restrained her, I don't know how she would respond. And secondly, and probably more importantly, if she hasn't resolved whatever happened to make her this way, then she might be unstable," Bruce answered.

Tim gave him a nervous, but then let out a slight laugh, "No matter what is wrong with Mason, she can't be more unstable than Jason."

"Fair point," the older man muttered, and then he stood. "Come on, let's see what she can do."

* * *

Ten minuets later, everyone was suited up and ready to go in the training room.

Even Bruce had donned the training attire. Everyone was required to wear the same clothing during formal training exercises, mainly for protection purposes. They all wore tight back shirts; the shirts had a half-inch foam padding down the spine and along the ribs. Bruce wanted them to be able to train hard, but he didn't want them hurt either. The pants were more simple, just black training pants. The only differences were subtle personal touches that they had added based on their individual needs. Tim had tapped a wrist and Damien had an ankle tapped up. Jason had put on gloves to protect his hands; his knuckles were still healing from a drug bust a week earlier. Only Dick, Brue, and Mason, didn't seem to need any extras.

The room itself looked like a combination of a ballet studio, some sort of martial arts dojo, and a weight room. One wall was covered in mirrors, and the floor was mainly industrial carpet except for in two areas, one area, by the mirrors, was just hardwood floors, and in the center of the room there was a large thin mat. The ceilings were at least 30ft high, and they had acrobatic equipment hanging from the rafters. Various machines, and free weights were lined up neatly against the other three walls not covered in mirrors.

After Mason finished looking around the room, she looked to the center mat. The boys had grabbed some stuff from weapons storage; all around the edges were various weapons.

"Alright everyone, you have thirty minutes to warm up," Bruce announced to the group and all the boys went about their usual routines. Dick immediately climbed up to the rafters and started flying though the air. Jason went to a punching bag on the far side of the room. Tim hopped on a treadmill, and Damien started going through some intense yoga posses.

At first Mason didn't know what she wanted to do, but she elected to do some stretching, followed by a couple minutes on one of the bike trainers.

Once the thirty minutes were up, Bruce called everyone back to the blue mat to let the real training begin. He would assign a different weapon per fight. The first match was Jason and Dick; they both had a bow staff. Mason watched the fight, and once it was over, and she knew the rules, she fought Tim.

For the next couple hours that was how training went, one on one matches with a weapon. Mason held her own very well, she won some and lost some but by the end of it Bruce was very impressed with her level of competency. But now came the real test…

 _Well she can clearly fight with a weapon… now to see how she does with hand to hand combat…_ Bruce thought. He was worried about this fight because over the course of the last two hours, he hadn't seen any of his sons touch Mason. Sure the weapons had hit her, and she had taken a few hits from hands and feet, but nothing had maintained contact for longer than a fraction of a second.

"Alright, for this next round, there will be no weapons. Hands only, the fight ends once someone has been subdued or taps out," Bruce announced.

Mason had assumed she would be fighting Damien because they were of similar size; he only had an inch on her, as opposed to everybody else. Jason was at least eight inches taller, than her, and Bruce and Dick weren't much shorter.

Also, Mason was not looking forward to this fight because she didn't want to be touched at all. Kicking and punching didn't bother her too much, it was the being grabbed and pinned that she hated. So when Bruce declared that he was going to fight her, Mason became very unhappy.

When Dick started the fight, none of the boys had any idea of what was about to happen…

It started out well enough, Mason was holding her own against Bruce, which alone was impressive. Bruce was far stronger than mason, but Mason had an unnatural speed and agility that kept her out of Bruce's reach. But after ten minuets, Mason was staring to lose speed… and a well-placed kick to her bruised ribs dropped Mason right next the edge of the mat near the weapons. She couldn't move for a second, and in that moment Bruce grabbed her arm and pinned her down.

"Get off," Mason snarled from under Bruce.

"Yield first," Bruce replied as he struggled to maintain his told, he could tell her heart rate had spiked to an alarming pace and that her labored breathing wasn't from the fighting.

And then Mason did something one expected, with a loud pop, she dislocated her own left shoulder, and slipped out of Bruce's pin. As she rolled to the side, she gabbed a knife with her right hand, and before anyone could blink she was behind Bruce with a knife pressed to his neck.

"I. Said. Get. The. Fuck. Off." She snarled and dropped the knife next to him.

The boys were shocked; they couldn't believe what they had just witnessed...

Bruce turned to look at Mason, he was about to about to start yelling at her, but the look on her face stopped him. She looked furious and distraught, but she was trembling violently, and then collapsed on the floor next to him.

"Mason!" Bruce exclaimed as Dick ran forward to help her, but Jason gabbed Dick's arm, and shook his head.

"What are you doi-" Dick yelled in protest.

"Just watch," Jason snapped, and Dick turned to look back at Mason and Bruce.

"I told you. I don't like to be touched," Mason breathlessly said to Bruce, she was still visibly shaking, but it was becoming less pronounced.

"That is an understatement," Bruce replied," Are you alright?"

"Not at the moment but I will be, I just need to pop this back in," she answered as she tried to stand up. But she fell over, either from exhaustion or the shaking Bruce couldn't tell.

Bruce stood up and walked over to were Mason was sitting, and offered her a hand up. She grabbed his forearm instead, and told him not to move. After she was standing, she thanked him and tried to walk out of the training room, but the boys wouldn't let her through.

"Where are you going?" Jason asked concerned.

"To reduce my shoulder."

"How? You can't do it by yourself."

"The hell I can't," she snapped back, and she proceeded to walk out of the room with Jason right behind her.

After they were gone Damien looked to Bruce, "Father, I think she is defective."

"No she isn't Damien, she just has a problem."

"I don't know, I think we have to classify this as something a little more severe than a 'problem'," Tim replied.

"What happened to her B?" Dick asked. The look on his face told Bruce that the question wasn't referring to a moment ago, but to her in general.

"I don't know Dick, but I imagine nothing pleasant…"

Bruce's last statement ended the conversation. He then instructed the boys to clean up the training room, and he went to call Leslie to make sure she could see Mason the next day. While on the phone, Leslie told Bruce to use give Mason an old sling to use until she saw her, and that she would set her up with an appropriate one the next day. Bruce thanked her and hung up the phone.

 _What have I gotten myself into with this one?.._

* * *

Mason was furious with herself for how she had reacted downstairs… _he knows… they all know… this isn't good…_ She was already in her walking into her room and Jason was right behind her.

"Ugh, what do you want?" she snapped.

"I'm just making sure you're okay, and to see if you need any help."

"I don't need help," Mason almost shouted.

Jason held up his hands, and took a step towards her, "I'm not going to touch you, just let me stay while you put it back in so I know you're okay."

Mason's anger subsided and she stopped scowling, "Fine, just stay over there," she muttered.

Jason entered the room as Mason sat down on the floor. She bent both of her knees into her chest, and then delicately reached both hands in front of her right knee and clasped them together. She then started to slowly lean back. As her arms straightened, Jason saw her shoulder slide back into place with an audible pop.

The noise made Jason cringe. Which confused him, he had dislocated so many peoples shoulders, and the noise never seemed to bother him before… _I'm getting too soft… need to stop hanging around here…_

Mason standing up brought Jason's attention back to her. He watched as she checked her range of motion. She reached overhead, behind, and externally and internally rotated her arm. After she was done checking, she looked to Jason.

"I told you I didn't help," she said with a superior smile.

"Yeah, I've never seen anyone do it themselves before. Where did you learn how to do it?"

"My mother made me learn," she answered. "I'm going to take shower," she abruptly announced and walked into her bathroom.

She locked the door, turned on the water, and then slumped to the floor exhausted.

Once the water was scalding hot, Mason stood up and started taking her clothes off. Then she stepped into the shower, and immediately laid on the floor… _I'm too tired for this right now…_ and within minutes she was asleep.

* * *

Once Mason locked her bathroom door, Jason quickly left her room. As he was coming down the stairs, he bumped into Alfred.

"Good evening Master Jason, Master Bruce requests that you return to the cave directly. He wishes to speak with you."

"Alright, thank you Alfred," and then Jason proceeded to head down into the cave.

When he got down there, he saw Bruce sitting in front of the computer, he still wearing his training uniform.

"You need something?" Jason asked.

"How is Mason?"

"Fine, I guess... She was able to put her shoulder back in place, and now she is in the shower."

"Good, good," Bruce murmured, "How did she do it?"

"She sat on the floor, and used her knee to straighten out her arms until it pocked back in. She checked her range of motion and it seemed fine as well."

"Okay, good… Thank you Jason, why don't you go get cleaned up, Alfred says dinner will be at six, so in about an hour."

"Mmk…" Jason went to head to training room showers, but then turned around, "Why would she do that? Why would she dislocate her own shoulder? It makes no sense, it was just training," Jason asked.

"I'm afraid that's my fault… She has chiraptophobia, which is fe-"

"I know what it means. She is scared to be touched," Jason snapped. "Why would you hold her down like that if you knew?"

"I had to know how she'd react," he explained calmly, "we cannot have liabilities with us on patrol. That is why I fought her, so I could see how far I could push her…"

"You shouldn't have done that," Jason said getting angrier.

"Jason, I'm not going to have this argument with you right now. I had to know what she would do if someone grabbed her…"

"You're an ass," Jason angrily replied, and then stormed away to the showers.

When Jason got to the showers, he was grateful to see that his brothers had already cleared out and he was alone. He stripped his clothes off and threw them in the pile the others had already started, and then he jumped into the shower when it got as hot as he could stand. Jason let the hot water work some of then tension out of his body, and his anger slowly receded.

After the shower, Jason felt better. He was still annoyed that Bruce had provoked Mason, but he wasn't angry anymore. Jason didn't like Bruce's methods, but he could see why it was important for Bruce to see how she would react.

As Jason finished drying off, he realized he had no clean clothes in the room. He let loose a stream of curse words, grabbed a towel, and then went up the stairs, to finished getting ready for dinner in his room.


	5. Chapter 5

Dick was getting ready for dinner in his room when he heard Jason walk by and slammed the door to his room. Dick knew the sound of everybody's steps, and Jason's were the heaviest, particularly when he is upset. _Wonder what he is so angry about… oh wait he is Jay, he's always angry…_ Dick smiled thinking of his brother. Jason was usually angry, but that didn't bother Dick too much, he was just happy Jason was around more often than he used to be.

Dick threw on a loose sweatshirt, and then went to see why Jason was upset. He opened the door into Jason's room without knocking, and made Jason flinch as he finished putting on a pair of jeans.

"What do you want?"

"Now, now Jay-Bird, no need to be hostile, I just came to see what is bothering you. And to tell you don't take it out on your door, they are old and hard to replace," Dick answered.

Jason continued getting dressed as he answered, "Did you know Mason has a fear of being touched?" he asked as he threw on a black shirt.

"Not until B told me ten minuets ago."

"Yeah well he knew before that fight, and pinned her to see how she'd react."

"Yes, B told me that as well, he feels terribly about it. He didn't think Mason would dislocate she shoulder to get out of it. Where is she by the way?"

"I know he didn't, but he still could've done it a different way," Jay argued as he put on his shoes and grabbed a leather jacket. "And when I left her room she had just gotten in the shower but that was almost an hour ago," Jason said as he gabbed his keys and headed for the door.

"Where are you going? Alfred made everyone dinner."

"To check out a few open apartments, I've stayed here too long. I've got to find a new place soon," Jason answered.

"Are you going to be back later?" Dick called after him as Jason went down the stairs. Dick heard a distant 'yes.'

Dick checked his watch, and decided it was time to head down for dinner.

As he walked into the living room he found Damien in his spot watching TV.

"Todd, not staying for dinner?" he questioned.

"Nope, he went to look at a new apartment," Dick answered.

After Dick answered his question, Damien lost interest in him. Dick was about to ask him a question when Tim walked in.

"Ah, Timmy. Just the bird I wanted to see, two questions. One, where is Mason?" Dick asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since she left the cave."

"Alrighty, next question, where you able to do anything with the information she gave you and B? Any idea as to who she really is?" Dick asked quietly. At this question, Damien stopped paying attention to the TV, and looked to the older two boys talking.

"Not yet, we've ran her DNA and birthday through numerous data bases, but we haven't gotten a real hit yet. The only thing we got were her college records from NYU, but all her information to get into the school was fabricated," he answered looking disappointed. It wasn't very often that Tim and Bruce couldn't find the information that they needed.

"I'm sure you'll find something Timmy," Dick said as he patted him on the back.

After the conversation, Dick walked into the kitchen. Alfred was cooking at the stove, but Mason wasn't anywhere to be seen. Dick asked Alfred if he'd seen Mason, and after the faithful butler said no, Dick left the kitchen to find her. He looked in the library and the music room on the first floor, he wasn't going to look outside because the temperature was starting to drop, and it'd be too cold. Dick decided she must be in her room, so he went to the third floor to look there.

When he got to her room, he knocked softly and waited. When he received no answer, he slowly opened the door, "Mason?" he called softly.

He still received no answer, so he opened the door all the way. She wasn't in there, but that was when he noticed the shut bathroom door, and heard the shower running. _She shouldn't still be in there… Jay said she got in there over an hour ago…_

Dick went and knocked on the bathroom door… no response. He knocked again louder this time, and called her name… still no response. _Something's wrong…_ Dick thought, and he quickly gabbed a hairpin from the side table and picked the lock.

When he got into the bathroom, steam was everywhere, it clouded his vision. He walked over to the shower and saw Madison's form lying on the floor. He quickly grabbed a towel and threw it over her body, and turned off the water.

"Mason!" he yelled.

Mason jolted awake, she gabbed the towel, and got into a defensive crouch against the shower wall.

"What the hell Dick, get out!" she screamed.

Dick quickly scrambled out of the bathroom. He thought she had fallen and hit her head, but now it was obvious that that wasn't the case. He needed to explain himself, but now he was worried that she thought he was a pervert. Dick stayed in her room, while Mason finished in her bathroom.

Two minuets later she walked out in a towel. She calmly collected some clothing from a dresser, and then went back into the bathroom. She reemerged five minuets later, fully clothed, with wet blonde hair braided down her back.

She didn't look mad, which startled Dick, she was just… calm.

"I'm so sorry Mason, I just knocked and you didn't say anything so I just walked in and then you were on the floor, and I just… I'm sorry," he rambled.

"Did you see anything?" she asked.

"No! I wasn't trying… the steam was everywhere, and I threw a towel on you," he stuttered out.

"In that case, no harm no foul," she laughed, "Just don't do it again."

"Uh, okay, yeah, sure… I promise," Dick said surprised. He was expecting Mason to tear him to shreds, or at least yell or something, but she just stood there smiling.

"Well now that we have that cleared up, let's go get dinner," and she headed for the door, but before she could walk out Bruce was standing in the way.

Mason stopped moving and started at Bruce.

"Mason, I'm sorry for what happened earlier… I di-,"

"No worries Bruce," Mason interrupted him before he could finish. "It's fine, no harm, no foul," she said again as she lifted her left arm to prove the point.

"Still, I sh-"

But Mason interrupted him again, "Bruce it's fine," this time a little more firmly.

"Well okay, but it would make me feel better if you'd wear this," he held out a black sling. "I just called the family physician, she said it would be best if you wore this tonight, and she will take a look at you tomorrow."

It looked as if Mason was going to protest, but then she nodded her head, "Thank you, it is a bit sore."

Bruce handed her the sling and Mason put it on. Dick helped her with the clip behind the neck, he was very careful to avoid making contact with her. When the sling was in place, Mason let out a sigh of relief.

"That feels better."

"Good," and Bruce flashed her a small but rare and genuine smile.

"Alright, now I'm starving so let's go eat!" Mason exclaimed and led the way out the door.

Bruce and Dick watched her go; they looked each other, shrugged, and walked out flowing her down the stairs.

* * *

Damien watched as Bruce, Dick, and Mason came down the stairs. Mason had the sling on, but Damien showed no concern in the slightest.

"Damien, dinner is almost ready," Bruce said as the three of them walked through to the kitchen.

Damien grumbled to himself as he got up out of his spot, but his mood lightened when he realized Alfred had cooked his favorite food.

A few moments later Tim entered the kitchen as well. Alfred was putting down another plate setting for Jason when Dick stopped him.

"Sorry Alfred, Jay won't be joining us for dinner tonight."

Alfred's face dropped ever so slightly, and then he thanked Dick for the information and put Jason's plate and glass back in the cabinet.

"Where did Jason go?" Bruce asked.

"He said it was time for him to find a new apartment, said he'd been here too long."

Bruce just nodded his head and mumbled something about buying Jason's apartment.

After that dinner was slightly subdued. It was obvious that Bruce, Alfred, and Dick, were upset Jason had decided to leave the house again. Even Tim looked a little a sad, only Damien remained completely unperturbed.

Once everyone was finished eating, Alfred started to clean the table, and everybody else headed into the living room at Bruce's request. Damien fell onto his spot, while everyone else remained standing.

"Damien, I know you have school tomorrow, but I was hoping you'd go on patrol with Dick tonight?"

"You told me yesterday morning, that you were going to go on patrol with me tonight," Damien replied with a scowl.

"Hey, Dami… what's wrong with going on patrol with me?" Dick asked sadly.

"Nothing Grayson, I just thought I was going with father, that's all. But if it cannot be helped, I'll go with Grayson as per usual."

"If you have any school work, I'd recommend doing it now," Bruce added. Damien let out a small 'huff' but then he got out of his spot and went up the stairs to his room.

"Alright now Tim, I know I told you could have the night off because you have an exam tomorrow, but I need you to act as ground coordinator just for a little while. I'll take over as soon as I can."

"It's okay B, it's a business class. I wasn't very concerned about the test to begin with," Tim replied smiling.

"Still, I want to make sure you have the time you need to study so that you can do well," Bruce said.

"Yeah, we can't have the future CEO of Wayne Industries, to fail Business 101 now can we," Dick chuckled as ruffled Tim's hair. Tim swatted his hand away, but the smile remained.

"Yeah yeah yeah, shut up," and then Tim replied and then went upstairs to move his books from his room to the cave.

"I told Babs she could come over tonight and I would help her with a case, so now I have to go call her to cancel," and then Dick left the room.

Bruce turned to Mason, and did one of his usual clinical assessments. She looked tired, and the sling didn't help. It made her shoulders look slouched, and her usual good posture was gone. She had on long sweats and a sweatshirt that looked way too loose, and Bruce made the mental note to make sure he got her new cloths soon.

After he studied Mason for a moment, she decided to break the silence, "do you need something Bruce?"

"Yes actually, would you mind meeting me in the library in an hour or so? I have a few more questions for you, and I'd like to discuss today's events."

Mason really didn't want to talk about the training session, but she knew that there was no way to avoid it. Mason agreed, and Bruce dismissed himself from the room. He needed to go make a few money transactions into Jason's various accounts, and dealing with the online banking could take awhile.

After Bruce left Mason went up to her room, looking to kill some time. She hadn't noticed it before, but at some point during the day, Alfred must have put a computer in her room. It was a nice new Mac. Mason was excited to play around on it, and after putting in a few personal settings, she started to download songs and listen to music. She knew she needed to encrypt the hard drive, but that would take time. She would have to do it at some point the next day.

* * *

Around 9p.m. Alfred softly knocked on Mason's door.

"Come in," she called over the music. She was still sitting at the computer when Alfred entered. She quickly turned down the music so that she could hear the old man.

"Mason, Master Bruce is ready for you in the library, also I made cookies. When you are finished with Master Bruce, feel free to help yourself."

"Thank you Alfred," Mason replied with a small smile and then headed down the stairs.

Bruce was already waiting for her in the library, just as Alfred had said. He was sitting on the couch, with a cup of coffee, looking over some documents. When Bruce heard her enter, he looked up, and offered Mason the couch directly in front of him. Mason calmly walked over to the couch and sat down.

"How is your shoulder?"

"Its fine, I promise," and to prove her point, Mason lifted it out of the sling and raised it overhead.

"Alright well like I said earlier, you have an appointment with Leslie tomorrow. She will see you in her office at 10. Leslie will take a look at your shoulder, give you a general physical, run some tests, and get a medical history from you. I urge you to be as truthful as possible with your medical records. She needs to know, so that when you get hurt she can treat you appropriately."

"I will tell her everything I know," Mason answered truthfully.

"Thank you, that will be helpful. Also tomorrow after your appointment, Alfred is going to take you to the DMV, bank, and then shopping for new clothes. We need you to have proper identification if anything happens."

"What do you want my name to be?"

"Well preferably, I'd like your last name to be Wayne because it would be easier, but the choice is yours," Bruce replied.

Mason though for a moment… _Well I don't want to pick any name that can relate back to my real identity… guess I'll go with something common…_

"Does Mason Elizabeth Wayne sound okay?" Mason asked

"It's perfect," Bruce assured her, and then continued, "But now to more serious matters… Other than the chiraptophobia, do you have any other triggers I need to know about?"

Mason didn't respond at first, but then she looked up at him, "I'm not scared to be touched. I just don't like to be touched, there is a difference."

The look on her face told Bruce that there was not point in arguing, and he made a mental note to add stubborn to her file. "Okay, continue."

"I want to be able to lock my bedroom door when I sleep, when I'm asleep I'm just as defenseless as a everybody else, and I cant sleep in a compromised position like that," she finished with a pleading look.

Bruce considered her for a moment ant then agreed, but only while she slept. Mason was fine with the stipulation, and the conversation lightened up. Even the few questions regarding the fight weren't too bad, and Bruce was satisfied with Mason's answers.

During the rest of the conversation, they decided that once the med school started up she would start taking classes, Bruce felt her skills could become very important to the family. They also decided that he would have to make some sort of public announcement about her being a new addition to the family, they both concluded the most logical story would be a 'distant cousin' come to live with the family, since she was too old to be adopted. Bruce also told her that depending on her health evaluation, that they would start working on a suit for her.

He wasn't going to let her out on patrol at least for a month maybe two, but her nighttime identity and suit would give her something entertaining to work on for a while.

After another hour of questions, Bruce felt that he had a fairly good grasp on her personality. She was strong willed, but knew when to take orders if they were the better choice. She was highly intelligent. She had clearly gone through some traumas, but other than a few manageable ticks he didn't feel that they were going to be a problem. She was stable…

If only Bruce knew how wrong he was…


	6. Chapter 6

Jason hadn't intended to go apartment hunting earlier, but he needed an excuse to leave the house without Dick hounding him. However, Jason was pleased with the apartment he had found, it was perfect for him. It was located in Bludhaven, had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a kitchen/living room combination. The building was old, but the air condition and heater worked, an unusual plus in this part of town. His living room opened up to a small balcony and fire escape that looked down onto a narrow alley. No one would see him come and go as the Hood. It was so perfect that he bought it on the spot, and spent the rest of the evening buying furniture. He got a small couch, a comfy looking chair, and an old coffee table for the living room. He also got a couple bar stools to go in the kitchen. The only thing he got for both bedrooms were mattresses. Jason didn't bother spending money on an actual bed because he knew it wouldn't last. After everything was dropped off and put in the apartment, Jason decided he needed to return to the mansion to tell everyone he had found an apartment, and to gab some of his things.

By the time he got back to the mansion, it was almost 11p.m. He knew Dick and Damien were out until 3a.m. tonight, so he entered through the cave expecting for Bruce to be at the main computer. Jason figured he would be acting as tonight's ground coordinator, but it was Tim instead.

"Replacement? Where is Bruce?" he asked getting off his bike.

"He is busy, something to do with Mason. So I'm the ground coordinator until he is done."

"Oh okay, do you know where he is though?" Jason asked.

"Last I saw him, he was in the library talking to her, but that was a while ago. If he isn't in there try his room."

Jason was already heading back up the stairs to the main floor before Tim even finished speaking. He was going to head straight to the library to talk to Bruce and then leave, but the lingering smell from dinner made his mouth water. So he decided he'd have to stay awhile and eat after speaking to Bruce.

Putting thoughts of food aside, Jason continued to make his way to the library, as he got closer he could faintly hear music playing. He had assumed Bruce had turned on the radio or sound system, but then he realized the music wasn't coming from the library. It was coming from the music room.

He temporarily ignored the music, and walked into the library. But when he walked into the room, it wasn't what he had expected. Instead of Bruce meticulously looking over documents with a drink in his hand, he was leaned back into the couch, eyes closed with a pained look on his face.

"What's wrong with you?" Jason asked as he walked up to Bruce and nudged his leg.

Bruce's eye snapped open, and he looked a little bleary eyed, "I'm just listening to Mason play..."

"And?" Jason asked still confused.

"No one has played that piano since my mother died… additionally, Mason happened to pick the last song I can remember my mother playing…"

"You're not one to give into nostalgia Bruce," Jason replied, a little softer than he normally would.

"We all have moments when our humanity bleeds out Jason. Yours came out earlier when you made sure she was alright after the fight," he said as he tossed his head in the general direction of the music.

"Did it surprise you?"

"No, Jason. Even after you returned, I could always see it..."

Jason didn't really know what to say after that. He and Bruce never really talked about personal issues, but it didn't make him feel as uncomfortable as he thought it would. He went ahead and sat down opposite of Bruce, and closed his eyes for a moment, and listened. They stayed like that for a while.

It wasn't until Maosn finished the song and started a new one, that Bruce spoke, "What did you need earlier, I forgot to ask?" he asked softly.

Jason reached into his back pocket, and handed Bruce a slip of paper, "It's the address to my new apartment. I figured giving it would save you and Dick time later."

"Thank you Jason, and I already transferred the money into your accounts for attending the fundraiser without raising too many problems."

"Well I wasn't going to pass up a free apartment," Jason added with a laugh.

Bruce gave the young man a fond smile, stood up, and then went to the cave to relieve Tim.

After Bruce left the room, Jason made his way to the music room. He didn't recognize anything she had played, but he never listened to classical music anyway. However, he did have to admit she played flawlessly, and he liked the songs she had chosen.

He walked into the room. Mason looked up, but she didn't stop playing. She just watched Jason as he kept walking towards her. He went to the veranda doors behind her and opened one up. A cold wind was blowing ever so slightly; it caused the drapes to gracefully move around Jason as he stood in the doorway letting the cool air rush past him.

Mason finished her song and then looked to Jason, "Something I can help you with?"

Jason pulled a pack of cigarettes out and lit one before answering, "What was the first song you were playing?"

"It was 'Raindrops prelude No. 15' by Chopin."

"You should play it more often," Jason answered, and then took a long drag from his cigarette.

"Why? Do you like the song?" she asked.

"Personally I preferred the second one, but Bruce likes the first."

Mason smirked, "You know, if you do nice things for Bruce he will think you care about him."

"Ha… Maybe," he replied, "what was the second song?"

"It was Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata, First Movement.'"

"I'd be okay if you played that one more often as well," Jason said and then gave Mason a small smile.

Mason didn't respond, instead she glanced out of the window watching the trees move in the wind. Jason stamped out the butt of his cigarette, and then pulled out two new ones. He offered one to Mason.

"No, I gave that up long ago," she answered as she pulled her sling back over she shoulder. She then got up from the bench, "Goodnight Jason."

"Wait." Mason stopped to look at him, "I can't figure you out. I can see how smart you are without needing to look at information you gave Bruce. You're intelligent, beautiful, cunning, and a masterful liar. We know your name isn't Mason, and yet we can't find any information that would contradict it. You are clearly capable of taking care of yourself… You could have anything in the world… so why are you here?"

"I told all of you yesterday, I'm here to help you…"

"You are lying Mason… I am a liar, and I know when I'm being lied too…" They stared at each other for a moment, before Jason continued, "Who are you when no one is watching?"

Mason turned her back as she answered, "If I told you it wouldn't be a secret… Goodnight Jason," and then she left Jason standing alone.

 _She will be the end of whatever sanity I have left…_

* * *

About an hour later, Mason was trying to leave the house unnoticed. She had heard Jason's motorcycle leave not long after their conversation finished. She knew Bruce was down in the cave and Tim was in his room.

She left the same way as she had the night before, and soon after she was in her safe house. As she got ready, she took extra precaution to ensure any identifiable characteristics were hidden or covered up. On the off chance she ran into Damien or Dick she didn't want them to recognize her.. She grabbed her weapons for the night, took one last look in the mirror, and was gone.

* * *

Jason had decided to go on patrol to clear his head after his conversation with Mason. The lies she concealed herself with irritated him to no end; he just wanted to know who she is and why is she here. It bothered him that she knew so much about his family, and they knew so little about her…

Fortunately for him, he had had a few run-ins with a small gang and a dug dealer to help get rid of some of his frustration.

* * *

Around 2a.m. Jason was feeling tired and he was about to turn in, but he came across something unsettling.

He had just jumped rooftops headed towards his bike, when he noticed two people in the alley below; he assumed both were men based on body size. At first he didn't think much of it, no one was yelling, and it didn't look like either of them were struggling, but he decided to check it out anyway. Jason used a grappling hook and quietly descended into the alley.

As Jason walked towards the two people, he could finally see what was really going on. One man stood over the other, and the one on the ground was clearly unconscious. His arms were bound behind his back, and had been knocked around a bit. His nose looked broken, and his left knee was twisted the wrong way. But that wasn't the worst of it…

Jason kept walking closer until the conscious man spoke, "I wouldn't come closer if I were you."

The stranger's voice sounded deep and digitalized, Jason could tell he was using a voice modulator.

"Turn around fucker," Jason snarled, he had already pulled a gun on the stranger, and he had real bullets in this one.

"As you wish," he coolly replied. He then stood up and turned slowly to face Jason.

The man stood at around 5'11'' with broad shoulders and lean but well defined arms. He had on a hooded vest, which cause shadows to obscure most of his facial features. His arms and hands were covered in a black shirt and gloves. He wore tactical pants, and boots that resembled Jason's. He had a gun holstered on his right thigh, and bloody knife in his hand.

Jason looked at the knife and then looked to the man on the ground. He noticed his shirt had been ripped open and there were deep cuts covering the unconscious man's chest. There was blood everywhere.

"Who the hell are you?" Jason snapped as he repositioned his gun to point at the stranger's head.

The stranger looked up, and Jason was finally able to see his face. He had a hard mask covering the lower half on his face. All Jason could see was the man's eyes, forehead and some of his jet-black hair. The stranger's eyes almost made Jason shiver; they were solid black …

And then the stranger replied, "I'm just taking out the trash, he's a drug dealer."

"That didn't answer my fucking question! Who are you!?"

"My my my, we are testy… I guess the stories about you are true… how unfortunate."

"Shut the fuck up and tell me who you are!" Jason shouted.

"You first," the man taunted.

Jason moved his hand to the side fractionally and opened fire, the bullet missed the stranger's head by a quarter inch, "I'm in no mood for games."

The stranger didn't so much as flinch when Jason fired the bullet. But he held up his hands, and shrugged, "Fine I give up, my name is Black Byrd. That is Byrd spelled with a Y not an I. My number is 8675309. I like drinking pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. I have O+ blood type if you ever need a pint. I prefer waffles to pancakes. My hobbies include underwater basket weaving, collecting lint, and animal husbandry…" he said with a chuckle, but then his voice dropped and turned deadly calm, "and I am in mood for games either…"

He lunged at Jason, and Jason was able to get two rounds off before he was tackled to the ground. Unfortunately, both shots had missed or Byrd was wearing Kevlar. Either way it didn't matter, Jason was pinned and Byrd's knife was pressed to his throat.

"Until next time Hood," and then Byrd knocked Jason out.

* * *

When Jason came to, he felt dizzy and nauseous. The blow to his head had cracked his helmet and destroyed his communicator. After he sat up he pulled of his helmet. Jason was grateful to see it was still dark out, which meant he hadn't been out too long. He tried to see the unconscious man, but his blurred vision made it difficult, and he knew he would have to get up to see him.

When Jason stood up he had to use the wall to brace himself, his sense of balance was gone, and the pounding in his head was only getting worse. Eventually he made it over to the man, he was still alive, but he had lost a lot of blood if the pool on the ground was any indication.

Jason activated the distress signal in his belt hoping Dick and Damien were still out to come help him. He wouldn't have normally done it, but he needed Dick to take a look at the man before the cops got their hands on him.

* * *

Five minuets later Jason heard a soft thump land next to him.

"Hood, I was about to go home and sleep, this better be important," Damien snapped.

Jason started laughing, "Good to see you too. No No, I'm fine, no need to worry about little old me, Robin."

Damien rolled his eyes, "I'm so sorry Princess, I wasn't aware you needed me to kiss your booboos."

"Just help me up," Jason retorted.

As Damien was helping Jason up, Dick appeared in the bat mobile. He jumped out and ran over to his brothers.

"Hood! Are you okay? What Happened?" Dick exclaimed as he got to them.

"I'll tell you back at the cave, everyone needs to hear what happened, and I don't want to repeat myself. Just take a look at the guy over there, and then drop his ass off with Gordon," Jason commanded, and then he turned to the car.

"Hood wait! Did you see this?" Dick yelled.

"What is it?"

"He has something cut into his chest, but I can't quite make it out, too much blood," Dick answered.

Damien used some of the mans shirt to clean his chest, then they could clearly read the words…

 ** _"CULPAE POENAE PAR ESTO"_**

"Let the punishment fit the crime…"

* * *

An hour later, Damien, Jason, and Dick were back in the cave speaking with Bruce and Alfred. Dick drove Jason home while Damien waited for Gordon to show up. Jason had given Damien the keys to his bike and told him if he wrecked it, he would kill him.

Damien had found a new piece in information after his brothers had left the scene. He found another note; the handwriting matched the one on Chancer. It read:

" **A gift for the GCDP**

 **Love, BB XOXO"**

Jason was sitting in Bruce's chair with a pounding headache, and a bucket in front of him in case his nausea got the better of him. Dick and Bruce were at the computer going through all public surveillance cameras they could access, but they couldn't find a single glimpse of Byrd.

"How did he manage to avoid all of them," Dick grumbled.

"You know he has been here for a while Grayson, apparently tonight wasn't the first night Gordon received some of that loon's artwork. He probably knows where most of the cameras are and purposely avoids them," Damien stated.

"What do you mean this isn't the first thug to go in with art work?" Bruce demanded.

"Gordon told me that he has received seven men in the last three week all with 'culpae poenae per esto' slashed into their chests," Damien answered as he started to remove his gear.

"Why didn't he tell Batman?

"It seemed like Gordon was under the impression that it might have been Red Hood doing it…" Damien finished quietly, and glanced at Jason.

Jason jumped up. "I wouldn't have do-… Well actually… I would've, but I didn't do this," Jason sighed, and then doubled over as he threw up in the trashcan. Quickly standing had been a poor decision. Dick walked over to Jason as he threw up and patted him on the back; Jason tried to swat his hand away but to no avail.

"Jaybird, I you need to go rest somewhere, you have a concussion," Dick said calmly.

Jason finished retching, and then stood up only to fall over. Fortunately, Damien and Dick caught him before he hit the ground.

"Alfred take Jason upstairs, but don't let his sleep for more than an hour at a time without waking him."

Jason was about to protest, but then another wave of nausea hit him and he decided it would be best for his to go along with Alfred. Jason was five inches taller than Alfred, but the old butler was strong, he was able to get Jason up without letting him fall.

After they left, Bruce turned to his other sons.

"Damien why don't you go to sleep, you have school in a couple hours, and I want you to at least get some sleep."

"Yes Father," he replied and went up the stairs to get some sleep.

"Well at least we know who BB is now," Dick said trying to sound cheerful.

"Too bad it does us no good… And clearly he is skilled enough that we should be very worried."

"True… He has been running around Gotham for at least three weeks, and we haven't seen him once until tonight." Bruce gravely nodded. "And, it takes a lot for someone to get the better of Jason…"

"We need to take care of him quickly… I don't want anyone else running around in this city…" Bruce said.


	7. Chapter 7

An hour earlier, Mason walked through the door of her safe house.

"Damn you Jason," she cursed under her breath, as she pulled off the black wig and facemask. She then went into the bathroom and took out the contacts before taking off the rest of her gear, including the lifted boots. As she unzipped the hooded vest and removed her Kevlar underneath, she could feel her ribs ache. She finally got to the last layer, the black long sleeve, and peeled it off.

"Shit…"

While the damage from the bullet wasn't bad, it was obvious. It was a small very dark purple bruise with a 4in circle of slightly lighter purple radiating around it.

 _How the hell am I suppose to hide this from that damn doctor… I going to have to take my shirt off there… then again… maybe, as long as it looks old, I'll be okay… perhaps makeup…_

Mason spent the next thirty minuets trying to figure out a combination of makeup that worked, and then she sprayed a sealant on it. She rubbed on it gently, and when nothing came of on her hand she was satisfied.

She secured all of her gear, threw her street clothes on and headed back the manor.

* * *

Mason got there right after the bat mobile pulled in.

She quickly scaled the fence and was back by her room a couple minutes later. Mason climbed through the window, and silently crawled into bed.

She was asleep within seconds…

* * *

Mason woke up to the sound of shouting at 9am.

"I don't need to go, I'm not going to go," she heard someone shout.

 _What can't they just shut up…_ She heard more shouting, and decided to give up on sleep. Instead she walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower and got in.

Afterwards, Mason was pleased with the cover up job on her bruise. It looked a week old at least. She finished getting dressed, once again in clothing a little too big for her, and then she went downstairs to see what the yelling was about.

* * *

Bruce, Jason, Dick, and Alfred were all in the living room. Jason was still on the couch where Alfred had out

Jason was pissed. He hadn't slept; his head still hurt, and every time he tried to eat the nausea made him throw up.

All he really wanted was for everyone to leave him alone so he could go to sleep, but Dick and Alfred wouldn't let him and now Bruce was insisting that he go see Leslie with Mason.

"Jason, I'm not going to argue with you, you are going to see Leslie," Bruce commanded.

"I don't need to go and I don't want to go," Jason shouted.

"Jaybird just do as you're told, please…" Dick begged him; he was already in his GCPD uniform and was about to head to work.

"I said I don't want to go, so I'm not going to! Just leave me the fuck alone, I'm fine…" Jason snapped, but the yelling made his head spin, and he had to grab the trashcan to throw up again.

Dick just threw his hands up in the air, "I give up," and walked out to go to work.

After Jason stopped vomiting, Alfred went to sot next to him.

"Master Jason there is no need to shout, we just want to make sure you are all right. It will out all of our minds at ease if you would go see Miss Leslie," Alfred said.

Jason looked up at the old man's face and then to Bruce, "Fine… Just leave me alone until we go. Please…"

Just then Mason walked down the stairs, shoes and sling on.

"Good Moring Mason, how are you feeling today?" Alfred greeted her.

"The shoulder is a little sore, but I feel much better than him," Mason answered nodding at Jason.

Jason looked up, he swore he saw her smirking at him, but then her facial expression quickly changed to concern.

"He had a run in with an interesting character last night," Bruce explained. "He will be going with you and Alfred to see Leslie, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, the more the merrier," she said cheerfully.

Alfred, Bruce, and Mason left Jason in the living room to sleep for a moment, while they went to eat breakfast in the kitchen. Bruce couldn't stay long though, he was supposed to have been at Wayne Tower an hour ago, but Jason's stubbornness had held him up. He felt after grabbing a bagel that Alfred had made for him.

After Mason finished eating, Alfred cleaned her dishes and then went to pull the car around.

Mason walked into the living room, to find Jason sleeping. She gently woke him up, and told him that Alfred was coming.

Alfred came and helped Jason get to the car, and Mason brought him a fresh trashcan in case he needed it, and then they were off to see Leslie.

As they got closer and closer, Mason grew more apprehensive about seeing Leslie. It wasn't one particular thing that had her on edge… It was just about everything…

 _What if she can see through the cover-up… and if she can will she tell Bruce… provided the woman isn't completely incompetent, she will know it's from a bullet… What if she asks about the scars… FUCK! She is going to have to touch me… I hope she doesn't do any X-rays, only Jesus knows how many bones I've broken… She better keep her mouth shut about my tattoos… And the bitch better clear me to Bruce, I swear if I'm sidelined even longer because of this shoulder, I'm going to carve her…_

Mason's racing thoughts distracted her most of the car ride. She didn't even notice at what moment Jason started to stare at her.

"What are you thinking about?"

His question brought her back to reality, "What did you say?" she asked.

"I said, what are you thinking about," he replied, annoyed that he had to repeat himself.

"Oh, just hoping my shoulder isn't too messed up," she told him the half-truth.

Jason looked at her skeptically; the look he had seen on her face was definitely apprehension, but he didn't think she was really worry about something she deemed "fine" yesterday.

"Uh-huh," he mumbled, and even though his eyes were closed, Mason could see him role them.

"Don't believe me do you," she responded much louder than necessary, knowing it would aggravate his headache.

Jason opened his eyes to glare at her, and when he saw how smug she looked her just flipped her off. Mason didn't say anything but her smile grew wider.

The rest of the car ride was uneventful, except for a large Alfred hitting a large pothole, which caused Jason to hiss out a long string of cuss words.

When they got to the hospital, Alfred parked the car then directed both of them to Leslie's office.

When they got there, Alfred gave the door a soft knock, and Leslie let them in. The office was nice, and much more spacious than Mason had anticipated. She had a large desk, two couches and a table with a couple chairs around it, and the office still had room for more furniture if she wanted.

Once Jason was through the door, he jumped himself onto one of the couches and pulled a pillow over his face.

"Not feeling too well are you Jason?" she asked.

"Just a concussion, nothing to worry about…" he mumbled through the couch pillow.

"Well I'll be the judge of that," and then she pressed a button on her phone and called someone from radiology to come take Jason for a CT scan.

Jason grumbled something about not needing a CT scan.

"If you complain again, I'll make them move you in a wheel chair," she threatened, and when he didn't say anything back, she said, "Good boy."

Leslie had dealt with Jason enough to know what to do when he wasn't being compliant.

A few moments later a nurse walked through the door looking for Jason. He begrudgingly stood up, and went to follow her.

"Alfred why don't you go with them and make sure Jason behaves himself," Leslie asked sweetly. Alfred nodded graciously and followed the other two to radiology.

Then Leslie turned back to Mason, "And now to you, its lovely to meet you Mason, and don't take this the wrong way, but I hope we don't have to meet very often."

Mason laughed, "Thanks, me neither," and she smiled warmly at the older women.

"Alright, well let's get started. What do you want to start with, medical history, physical, or tests?"

"Medical history, it will be short. But before we get started, I have a few questions..."

"That's fine, what are would you like to know," Leslie asked.

"How much of my information are you going to give to Bruce?"

"Uh well, that's is a tricky question… He wants a full report, but they will be your medical records. While legally I am not required to tell him anything, you and I both know he won't settle for the bare minimum." Mason didn't say anything, so Leslie continued, "So how about a compromise, if there is something you really don't want him to know, I will not tell him, but I think you should allow me tell him everything that could effect to your job performance."

"Yeah… Okay, I can live with that. And last thing, its not really a question, more of a statement," Mason finished quickly.

"And what is it?"

"I don't want to be touched, and I know that is impossible during the physical and some of the tests. So I propose that you sedate me…"

Leslie just stared at the young girl for a moment, "Bruce informed me of your reaction yesterday, and I was wondering what you would be okay with. I'd hoped to avoid it, but I had calculated sedation might be the only way to keep you calm… Are you sure you're okay with that?"

"Yes… but please don't put me to sleep either, just a happy medium between the two."

"It's completely your choice, but if you change your mind, let me know," and she gave Mason a small but warm smile.

She then walked back around her deck to sit down in front of the computer.

"Now down to business… What is the public name you will be using?"

"Mason Ann Wayne."

"Height. Weight. Allergies."

"5' 9, 160, and none."

"Any preexisting medical conditions?"

"None that I am aware of."

"Alright that about does it for the basics," Leslie said, "Alright, family history of genetic disease?"

"My Aunt died of breast cancer and I got a double dose of addicts from both sides," Mason sighed.

"Did your aunt have a genetic variant? And have you had any substance abuse?"

"She had BCRA2 gene mutation, and I smoked cigarettes when I was 14 for 6 months, but other than that and the occasional drink, none."

"Alright good, and were you ever tested for the BCRA2 gene mutation?"

"Nope, and I haven't had a vaccination since I was 14, so I know I need those too."

Leslie started scribbling notes done a piece of paper, "Okay, I will add those to the to do list… Next question, any surgeries?"

"What is your definition of surgery?" Mason asked sheepishly.

Leslie gave the girl an 'I expected as much' look and then said, "Surgery done in a hospital, from a licensed surgeon…"

"Just two, well three actually... then again, maybe it was four. To be honest, I can't remember what I had fixed where and by whom."

"What do you definitely know?" Leslie asked sounding slightly concerned.

"One right shoulder surgery and I'm down a spleen."

"And how did that happen if you don't mind my asking?"

Mason gave her a grim look, "Neither are stories I'm fond of…"

"Okay… Moving on, any broken bones, joint pain, or anything else relevant to the musculoskeletal system?.. Other than the shoulder," she quickly added.

"Another question first… What tests are you planning on running?

"I was going to full body X-rays, an MRI on your shoulder, a complete blood panel, and the genetic test for BCRA2."

"Well my shoulder doesn't hurt, and I'll let you answer the other two questions after the X-Rays... Do you have any more questions for me?"

"None... Let me finish adding these notes into the computer and then we will get the testing started," then she went back to typing away at the computer.

While she was typing a radiology technician came in with a handful of scans. She began placing them on Leslie's X-ray illuminator.

"Thank you Lacey, did he behave?"

"He did, but we couldn't get him to hold still so he had to give him a light sedative," the technician answered.

"Hmm, well I guess that isn't so bad… Much better than last time," Leslie mumbled mainly to herself, and then went back to looking at the scans. "Good. Good. Well he seems to be fine, just a mild concussion, no residual bleeding."

"Would you like to go get Mr. Todd for you?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, and when you come back you will be taking Mason here to get full body X-rays, and then I want an MRI of both shoulders."

"I can do that," and then Amelia left to get Jason.

"Okay when she gets back she will take you down to radiology, do you want the sedative now or after you come back?"

"I guess now, they will have to move me around in the MRI machine," Mason answered.

"In that case I will go get it."

Two minuets later Leslie was back through with a syringe, and a clear glass bottle Phenobarbital. Leslie got the dosage she wanted and then handed the syringe and a tourniquet to Mason. Mason looked confused.

"I figured you'd want to do it yourself, Mr. Wayne told me that you drew your own blood yesterday."

Mason thanked her and administered the drug, and within 30sec. she was feeling some effects. Leslie made her sit down on one of the couches until Amelia came back with Jason.

A few minuets later, Amelia, a large orderly, and Alfred all helped a stumbling Jason into the room. He was conscious, but not coherent. They gently set him on Leslie's other couch.

"Has he slept at all Alfred?"

"Not in over 30 hours, ma'am."

She gave Jason a concerned look, "Well he can sleep here for right not, and we don't need to wake him up, the scan's were clear."

They brought in a wheelchair for Mason, for which she was appreciative. She knew she couldn't walk on her own right now and she didn't want someone to have to catch she when she fell. As the technician rolled Mason out of the office, she heard Leslie tell the tech to try not to touch Mason too much.

 _You're not too bad Leslie…_ Mason thought as they wheeled her away.

* * *

An hour and a half later Amelia wheeled Mason back into Leslie's office. The X-rays had only taken 10 or 15 minuets, but the MRI on Mason's shoulders had taken awhile.

Jason was still passed out on the couch, his chest was slowly rising and falling, and he was softly snoring. Alfred was at table in one of the chairs drinking a small coffee that ones of the nurses had brought him.

"Dr. Thompkins, here are the X-rays, and the MRI is on the disc inside," Amelia said and then handed Leslie a large manila folder.

"Ah, thank you Amelia," Leslie replied taking them, and then Amelia left the office.

Leslie sat down at her computer, put the disc in, and went through the MRI images. She added a few note to Mason's file, and then went back to the images. After ten minuets she was finally finished.

"Mason, since Alfred and Jason are in here, how about we go to an open examination room to do your physical?"

"Sure, whatevers fine," Mason slurred. She still felt very foggy, not so much sleepy, higher brain functions were completely turned off.

Leslie grabbed a few items off her desk including, Mason's X-rays and medical notes. She put them in Mason's lap and then wheeled her the examination room. Leslie locked the door behind them, and then helped Mason out of the chair on to the table.

Mason's heart accelerated ever so slightly at Leslie's touch, but had no other reaction beyond that.

Once seated Leslie pulled the X-rays out of the folder and put them on the illuminator. As she looked at the first set, her brows pulled together in concern. Leslie switched the set, and the furrow grew deeper. She looked at all of them, and then went through them again. Leslie scribbled a few notes down in Mason's file, and then turned to face her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fuzzy…"

"Okay good… Do you mind if I ask you about your x-rays?"

"Ha… I thought you might," Mason answered with something between a grimace and a smirk.

"You have bone remodeling on every long bone dating back at least a decade and probably further I just can't see it… You've broken all your fingers, most of them multiple times… and your skull… just everything. It would be easier to count the bones you haven't broken than the ones you have…" she finished and gave Mason a very concerned look.

"What can I say? Haha… I liked to play rough when I was little," Mason replied giving her a lazy grin.

"Mason… You have probably had more fractures than Bruce, Dick, and Jason combined and the all 'played' plenty rough… what happened to you?"

"Well you see, explaining each and every one would probably take fifteen years to tell you, and there just aren't enough years in the day for that so…." Mason started laughing at her own joke, Leslie didn't find it remotely funny.

"Mason, I ju-,"

"Look, assume want you want and let's just leave it at that, I'm not talking about it," Mason snapped, all humor now gone. Leslie still looked worried, so Mason went on, "I'm sorry… I just don't want to remember any of it…"

Leslie nodded her head, "No, it's understandable, I shouldn't have pried… my apologies…"

"No harm, no foul," and then Mason relaxed again.

Leslie went back to the examination. She checked Mason's reflexes and joint integrity. She made a few notes and then turned back to Mason, "You have general joint laxity, and it's probably why your shoulder has dislocated so many times."

"Oh, I knew that, it usually isn't a problem."

"No it doesn't seem like it is, but I'm still concerned about your shoulders. After today I still want you to wear the sling for three days, but after that I think you will be fine. And I'll be sending Alfred home with a shoulder stabilizer, you only have to wear it during job training and while at work though."

"Fine," Mason grumbled, Leslie made a mental note to inform Alfred of the rules.

"Now, the last thing I want to look at is your spine, so I'll need you to take off you shirt, and lay one your stomach."

Mason took the off her sling, and started pulling her shirt over her head when she heard Leslie take in a sharp breath.

Mason didn't comment, she just laid on her stomach and put her head down. The fog in her head was starting lift, and if Leslie didn't finish the exam soon Mason wasn't going to be so compliant.

Leslie had expected some scars, but not the massive purple and green bruising on Mason's ribs and abdomen. As Leslie walked over to her, she took inventory of Mason's back. There were surgical scars on the back of her right shoulder, as well as two long and deep scars that ran from the bottom of her right shoulder blade to left hip. She also had three scars that could've only come from bullets, and a small healed burn at the base of her neck. Mason had three tattoos that she could see, but she didn't understand any of them. One was a symbol she had never seen, and it was on the center of her back. Another ran across her ribs and was clearly a saying, but Leslie couldn't even recognize the language. She also noticed a scar right above it that looked like it was from a knife. Leslie shuddered thinking about all of the damage Mason's body had taken…

A moment later Mason felt Leslie's hands on her back. She quietly palpated the back, feeling Mason's spine and looking for any irregularities that might not have shown up on the x-ray. Mason balled her fists.

"Sorry, is the sedative wearing off?"

"Yes, but its fine right now just make it quick."

Leslie only needed another minute to complete the exam, and then she told Mason she could get dressed while she added that last notes. After a couple minuets of silence, Mason broke the quite.

"Bruce doesn't need to know about my back, nor does ne need to know about all of my x-rays. You can tell him what you think might be medically relevant, but nothing else."

"It's your choice," Leslie replied and then went back to her notes.

* * *

By the time they got back to Leslie's office, the sedative had completely worn off and Mason was backed to normal.

Leslie gave Alfred the shoulder stabilizer and told him the same thing she had said to Mason, and after they talked for a moment it was time to go. However Jason wasn't making it easy.

"Master Jason, please do get up. We must be going, and Leslie has another appointment."

Jason mumbled something unintelligible, and then went back to quietly snoring.

"Why don't we just get a wheel chair?" Mason asked.

"I think we might have to," Alfred replied. He left the office for a minuet before returning with one.

As Mason and Alfred tried to drag him off the couch and put him in the chair, he woke up and began to struggle. So much so, that they accidentally dropped him on the floor.

"Ow… Shit guys, I'm already concussed."

"We want to leave, so get up an walk or get in the chair," Mason demanded, she was tired of being at the hospital.

"I'm not using a wheel chair," Jason retorted, as he stood up. He was grateful that his head didn't hurt nearly as much as it had earlier, and his nausea was completely gone, the sleep had helped tremendously.

Mason and Alfred were silently grateful that he got up, neither of them wanted to try to shove the 6'3" 225lb man into the back of the car without his help.

They all thanked Leslie as they left, and then they headed back to the car. Jason was angry that he had to go with them to get Mason's new license, and then shopping, but Alfred bribed him with one of his favorite meals if he would quit complaining. Needless to say Jason stopped.

Mason was pleased that she had finally gotten some clothes that would fit her, and it was an extensive collection. Somehow she had managed to buy a full wardrobe in two and a half hours. Including some things she would need, now that she was publically a member of Bruce's family.

Once they returned to the manor, Alfred gave Bruce Leslie's instructions and Mason's medical file, and then he went to make good on his promise to Jason. Jason went back to sleep on the couch, claiming he was to tired to make it up the stairs, but Bruce and Alfred knew he just didn't want to miss out on his food. Mason started hauling all of her new clothes from the car to her room. After her second trip, she bumped into Tim and he helped her get the rest. She then went about setting up her new phone that was also purchased that day. Alfred had already put, his, Bruce, the boys, and Leslie's number in the pone. Mason spent the rest of the evening encrypting her phone and the new computer.

Dinner was an unusually quiet affair. Jason was too focused on his food to cause any problems, Dick was still on duty, Tim had his nose pressed into a book, and Damien was discussing the pros and cons of joining the fencing team at his high school with Bruce. It was one of the most normal dinners they had had in a long time.


End file.
